1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a sheet feeder and to a sheet tray. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sheet feeder having a sheet tray body enabled to be accommodated in a sheet feeder body, and to a sheet tray having such a tray body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, sheet feeders each having a sheet tray enabled to be accommodated in a sheet feeder body have been known as sheet feeders for use in printers, plotters, and electronic copying machines. Such sheet feeders each having a sheet tray enabled to be accommodated in a sheet feeder body are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-8-81092, JP-B-6-71950, and JP-A-11-199101. Hereinafter, an ink jet printer is described as an example of conventional equipment having such a sheet feeder.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional ink jet printer having drawer type sheet trays. FIG. 11 is a sectional side view, taken from the right of FIG. 10, illustrating a condition (that is, a used condition of the sheet tray), in which the sheet trays are drawn out of the conventional ink jet printer. FIG. 12 is a sectional side view illustrating an accommodated condition (that is, an unused condition of the sheet tray), in which the sheet trays are accommodated in the conventional ink jet printer.
First, an outline of the configuration of the ink jet printer having the conventional drawer type trays 105 and 106 is described hereinbelow by referring to FIGS. 10 to 12. The conventional ink jet printer has a bottom cover 101, a back cover 102 disposed on the rear surface thereof, and a front cover 103 disposed on the front surface thereof, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. A sheet mounting portion 104 is provided on the bottom cover 101. The bottom cover 101, the back cover 102, and the front cover 103 cover a motor (not shown) for driving a printer engine portion and other constituent elements of the printer. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, sheet guide portions 107a and 107b are provided on the sheet mounting portion 104. The sheet guide portion 107a is fixed to the sheet mounting portion 104. Moreover, the sheet guide portion 107b is attached to the sheet mounting portion 104 in such a manner as to be able to move in a transverse direction according to a sheet size.
Next, the details of the configuration of each of the conventional drawer type sheet trays 105 and 106 are described hereinbelow by referring to FIGS. 10 to 12. The conventional drawer type sheet tray 105 is mounted on the rear surface of the sheet mounting portion 104 in such a fashion as to be able to move in a direction parallel to a sheet feeding direction. Further, the sheet tray 106 is mounted on the back surface of the sheet tray 105. As shown in FIG. 12, when the sheet trays 105 and 106 are in an accommodated condition (that is, the non-use condition), these trays are accommodated in a space between the rear surface of the sheet mounting portion 104 and the back cover 102 of a sheet feeder body in such a way as to overlap with each other. When the sheet trays 105 and 106 are used, first, the sheet tray 106 is drawn out of the feeder body. As the tray 106 is drawn out therefrom, the tray 105 mounted on the surface of the tray 106 is drawn out therefrom to a position illustrated in FIG. 11.
As described above, the sheet tray 105 is mounted on the rear surface of the sheet mounting portion 104 in the conventional sheet feeder. Thus, an upper part of the sheet mounting portion 104 overlaps with a lower portion of a surface of the sheet tray 105. Therefore, a step-like part is formed in a connection portion in which the sheet tray 105 and the feeder-body-side sheet mounting portion 104 are connected to each other. This causes inconvenience that a sheet of paper is caught by the step-like part formed therebetween when the sheet of paper is transported along a sheet mounting surface of the sheet tray 105 and then put on the sheet mounting portion 104. Consequently, the conventional sheet feeder has encountered a problem in that this inconvenience adversely affects paper feeding.